"Mickey?!... Um."

xxxxx

All of the guards who had hurried into the corridors surrounding us turned to look at me, as the kid causing all of the commotion considered me for a moment with large, unwavering eyes, then hurled himself towards me,

"Youko! Missed you!" I caught him as he buried his face into my stomach and bit my lip as Temari raised her eyebrow at me,

"Care to explain?" She asked, her eyes flying up to see what I knew would be her little brother, come to see what was happening.

"Kazekage, there's an unknown-"

"It's alright. He's with me." I winced as I turned to face the red-haired Kazekage, with Mickey still clinging on to my legs, "Um. Yes. He's a Merger."

The guards raised their weapons threateningly, but the Kazekage called them off wordlessly with a small wave of his hand.

"Why is he here?" He asked bluntly, and I swallowed,

"Mickey, why are you here?" I looked down to the kid, who disentangled himself finally from my arms and stood facing me, his back firmly to the Kazekage.

"Followed you here. 'S long time." I knelt down to his side,

"Mickey, you know I put a lot of effort into not being followed. How are you here?"

He didn't answer, but gazed at me instead with puppy-dog eyes,

"'M hungry." He whispered, and fainted suddenly into my arms. I looked up, panicked, to see the Kazekage gesture to me,

"He can go to your room." He said briefly to me and then looked away quickly, "Temari, watch them." The shinobi who had arrived so quickly stood back wordlessly as I picked him up, and immediately regretted it. He was around twelve, and not the lightest thing in the world, despite having evidently been starved for at least two weeks. With another almost imperceptible nod from their red-haired leader, the guards parted, forming a route through the crowd for me and the unconscious boy, followed closely by Temari.

xxx

"Youko?" I looked round to see Kankuro enter my room, then turned my face back to the motionless boy on the bed. "Who is he? We need to know."

I nodded, patting the boy's head,

"He's a Merger, like me. Only a year old. I've been looking after him since he came to the Center. I guess it's not a surprise that he tried to follow me. Bit amazing he managed it, though." I frowned, and felt the Kazekage's brother rest his hand on my shoulder,

"Hey, you haven't frowned once since you came here. He'll be fine. Worry doesn't suit you."

"You've known me for all of about a day." I looked to face him again, eyebrow raised, "Worry can suit me very well indeed, when I'm in the mood." He clapped me on the back and took the seat next to me, nodding to Temari, who barely grunted a reply as she sifted through paperwork on the desk in the corner.

"Gaara wanted me to check that you were ok. He says to apologise, but you won't be able to have dinner with us, seeing as this kid put your trustworthiness here in jeopardy again."

"I figured as much." I sighed morosely, and Kankuro's eyes flew open,

"No, no, he doesn't think that! It's just the co-"

"-The council. I know. They really have something against me, don't they?" I smiled, "Let me guess. They reckon we're going to start flooding in here like some kind of asylum seekers, and that we'll launch an attack from the inside."

Temari laughed from where she was sitting,

"You haven't half got them down, even after just a day here!"

"Yeah, well, I tend to figure out people I don't like very quickly."

Kankuro snorted, and I leaned back in my chair,

"Man, waiting's boring!" I stretched my arms out and Kankuro nodded.

"You're right. I'm off!"

"Hey!" Temari and I both chorused, as Kankuro waved a hand at us and disappeared out of the door. I sighed, as did Temari, and we rolled our eyes at each other.

"I have been blessed with two wonderful brothers." She muttered, and I smiled, shaking my head,

"Well, at least they don't turn up and faint practically on your doorstep." I chuckled, pointing to Mickey.

"Oh, no, they do! At least, Kankuro does, at 5a.m., completely out of his mind with alcohol. On a weekly basis." We laughed, as a faint shout drifted through the open door,

"Hey! It's only monthly!"

xxx

I wandered up to the roof with a spare guard trailing me, unnerving him every couple of steps by accelerating into a skip, or running up the wall, or disappearing and reappearing right behind him, just for the fun of it. By the time we got there, his nerves were shot, and I was feeling much better. As we opened the door, a blaze of sunlight blinded me for a second, then I made out the silhouette of someone, staring into the distance.

"Oh, um, my lord- I apologise." The guard bowed deeply, down on one knee, and I tilted my head to observe the guy. Well, it wasn't me that guard was bowing to, so this could only be one person.

"Kazekage. Sorry to disturb you." I stayed firmly standing, as he turned to face me. His luminous gaze sent shivers through me and I cursed my over-active hormones for at least the fiftieth time that day. Then he looked at the guard,

"You may go. I will keep our guest company." The ninja looked slightly panicked, but nodded and left the roof as quickly as he could (for a ninja guy, that's fairly quick).

"What was that guy scared of? Me or you?" I grinned lopsidedly, willing the Kazekage to return the smile. He didn't.

"Probably both." He replied, and turned back to the sun, which I realised had blinded me so much because it was so low, setting, in fact. I walked carefully up to the edge of the roof, where the red-head was standing, watching all of the colours as they moved around the clouds.

"Man, it's beautiful." I whispered, and the Kazekage nodded slightly. I turned to look at his profile, and it almost took my breathe away. His hair shone in the setting sunlight, as if he were about to melt away into the sky, and his eyes looked so deep, like you could fall right into them. Man, you're beautiful, I thought. I turned quickly back to the sky. I seemed to have developed a crush on this guy. A rather large one. Oh dear.

"So how is he?"

"Muh?"

He raised an eyebrow, and I suddenly laughed,

"Sorry. Sorry! Mickey! Right. He's still sleeping, but it looks like he'll be fine. Just need to feed him up a bit again when he wakes up. Always needed a bit more food, anyway, that one." I smiled as a cool breeze began to play with my hair.

"He seems very young."

"Well, he is. He's only one! No wonder."

"You're only three."

"Yes. Well." I blushed, " That's just different. Some people stay like kids forever. Some don't."

"Un." The Kazekage nodded again, and I saw a slight flash of pain rip through his face, before it was replaced by his porcelain mask. I breathed in deeply. "It seems the council wish to speak to you again."

"Yeah, well they can go -" I caught myself just in time, as he turned to face my fully, that almost-smile playing around his lips again. I was so glad that the shadows were creeping in so fast. That way, he wouldn't see me blush.

"Are you blushing?" Maybe not.

"No! What- why?" I turned away, and scratched my head, frowning, "I don't blush."

"Hm." He turned away again and I breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"Kazekage... can I ask something?" I hazarded, and he said nothing. I took it as a yes. "What's it like... to be you?" I looked at him, and realised how that came out, "Oh! No, no! I mean-"

He silenced me with one dark look,

"The fact that I've been so hated? The fact that even now, even as Kazekage, my own ninja, like that guard, can't wait to get away from me?"

I looked at him, gobsmacked,

"I think that's the most I've ever heard you speak before. Say more! Say more!" He looked at me, visibly shocked, "And now you've just shown a real emotion! Hey, I'm good at this!"

I could see the confusion racing behind his eyes,

"You. Why- how do you do this?" There was also rage, I realised now, a seething wall of rage that was bubbling up and threatening to spill over. I was not looking forward to that.

"Um. I see I've overstepped the boundary a little. I'll just-"

I made to leave, but he grabbed my wrist. We stood still for countless seconds. Then, slowly, I looked down at his hand, still gripping my arm, and he let me go like I was burning.

"Sorry. I'm sorry." He put a hand over his eyes, " I don't know- I don't know what's wrong."

I sat finally on the floor.

"Pah. You think you're the only one with problems?" He took his hand away from his face, and balled it into a fist, before unclenching it, and turning to face me again. Without warning, he sat down in front of me. "I'm not turning it into some kind of contest, but... do I need to remind you how I've been treated since I came here?" He frowned (something that I was beginning to find just as heart-stopping as those small smiles that occasionally brightened up the room), "Not you. Or your siblings, obviously. But don't act like you're the only one. Jeez, I was just asking! I like to know the sorts of people I'm talking to, you know?"

"No. Not really."

"Well. We can start now, can't we?" I smiled, and his eyes met mine. Before I realised it, his face had broken out into a nervous, fleeting smile in answer. Then, as I could swear he was blushing, he stood up quickly and walked back to the edge of the roof.

"You must be worried about your little brother."

"Well, he's not really my brother..." Hey, I thought, he's just pulled all of those barriers up again! Darn! "I guess...I'll go check on him. Thank you, Kazeka-"

"-Wait." His voice had a quality to it that could stop me dead in my tracks, "Please. Call me Gaara."

"Uh- - no, Gaara. Thank you!" I whirled out of the door before he could see the blush on my face. And he was glad that I had gone, so that I wouldn't see the redness spreading across his own cheeks to match his hair.

Oh, I've been waiting for that for so many chapters! It's so tiring to write out 'Kazekage' every single time :'( Anyhoo, you know the drill, and it would make me extra-specially happy, 'cause it's my extra-special birthday today ^^ Not that this is blackmailing people to review or anything... please, what do you think? I was worried that the roof scene would be a bit cliched, because, you know, every GaaraxOC fic has one buuuuut I couldn't resist! And it's not moving too fast, is it? Or too slowly? Hmm...